Gloria Steinem, 1934 – 2026

I know Gloria Steinem—who died on Sept. 2, at age 92—is not “show biz,” but I did want to cover her anyway, as her whole life was a kind of performance art. Beginning with her stint as an undercover Playboy Bunny for Show magazine, Steinem championed a kind of “lipstick feminism,” showing that we can be feminists and hot patooties at the same time. She also wrote for That Was the Week That Was, appeared as herself in several movies and TV shows, and of course co-founded Ms. magazine, in 1972. Which is where my name-dropping comes in: I interviewed Steinem back in the ‘90s, and asked her, “why does Ms. have a period after it? It’s not an abbreviation, like Mr. and Mrs., it’s a full made-up word, like Miss.” She thought for a moment, and, looking a tad annoyed, said, “you know, you’re absolutely right—but it’s too late to do anything about it now!”